Robert De Niro becomes dad to seventh child at 79 ‒ 'I just had a baby'

Robert De Niro revealed that he has welcomed a seventh child at the age of 79 in a recent interview, sparking a wave of mixed reactions from the public online. 

The Oscar-winning actor shared the news while promoting his new film, About My Father. Speaking to ET Canada about the issue of parenting, the Hollywood icon casually corrected his interviewer on the number of his children. 

"I know you have six kids," Brittnee Blair began, before De Niro cut her off to say, "Seven, actually. I just had a baby." After the interview had finished, De Niro's representation confirmed to ET that the Meet the Parents star had indeed welcomed a seventh child. At the time, the mother of this child was not revealed

However, it has now been revealed that Robert's seventh child is with Tiffany Chen, an American martial arts instructor who starred alongside the legendary actor in the 2015 film, The Intern. 

Robert revealed to CBS that he and his partner welcomed their daughter, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro in the early spring. Robert revealed to Gayle King that Gia weighed eight pounds and six ounces and was born on April 6, 2023.

Gayle said that Robert and Tiffany are 'over the moon' with their new baby and that Gia was a planned pregnancy that the couple wanted and made 'with love'. 

The star said that he only mentioned his newborn as a way of not 'denying' her when it was mentioned that he had six children. However, he admits that he didn't plan to announcing her birth as he didn't want to take attention away from the film he was promoting and make the shared interviews all about his personal life.

De Niro's baby update has sparked quite a reaction online, with many people taking to social media to share their opinions on the matter. One critic on Twitter called the decision to have a child at 79 "irresponsible", while another said it "seems somewhat selfish." Some even expressed concern for the child, with one person writing, "This isn't good that kid." 

Not everybody was so disapproving of De Niro's major personal news, however. 

"Congratulations!" one person tweeted, while another called him "legendary." 

De Niro is already the father to adopted daughter Drena, 51, as well as biological son Raphael, 46, from his first marriage to American actress Diahnne Abbott. He also shares twin sons, Aaron and Julian, 27, with Toukie Smith, whom he dated between 1988 and 1996. His youngest children are Eliot De Niro, 25, and 11-year-old Helen Grace De Niro, both of whom he shares with ex-wife Grace Hightower. 

Speaking about his experience of fatherhood during his ET interview, De Niro admitted that he doesn't consider himself to be a "cool dad" and that he's no stranger to having conflicts with his children. 

"You know, my kids disagree with me at times, and they’re respectful," he revealed. "My daughter, she’s 11, she gives me grief sometimes and I argue with her. I adore her, but, you know. And my youngest now, that’ll be more to come. But, that’s what it is."